Report: Britain, U.S. Also Spied on Italy

Britain and the United States spied on Italy too, including on the government but with the consent of secret services, the Italian weekly L'Espresso reported in its edition due out on Friday.

The weekly said the espionage concentrated on three underwater fiber optic cables with terminals in Italy: the SeaMeWe3 and the SeaMeWe4 in Sicily and the Flag Europe Asia crossing the country.

"In this mass collection, our secret services had a role," the weekly said, citing journalist Glenn Greenwald, who sparked global controversy with his revelations based on U.S. leaker Edward Snowden.

Snowden's documents showed that the Italian security services had a "third-level agreement" with Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), L'Espresso reported.

GCHQ's selection of Internet communications and phone calls included diplomatic, financial and military information and was then passed to the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), the report said.

The spying was on "European governments, including the Italian one", Greenwald was quoted as saying.